


A Spray of Roses

by xspike4evax



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, Implied Relationships, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9713201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xspike4evax/pseuds/xspike4evax
Summary: Willow never thought having a delivery of roses could bring about a sense of impending doom.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: Shiver & fear from bad_swa prompt table on LJ

Willow was surprised to find a delivery man standing on her porch, a long glossy black box in his arms tied with a red silk ribbon. 

"Delivery for Willow Rosenberg." 

"Me?" Willow squeaked. 

"You Willow Rosenberg?" 

"Yes." 

"Then its for you. Sign here." He thrust a clipboard at her, idly chewing gum, an impatient look on his face. 

Willow signed the form and took the box, she could see from the van at the curb he worked for a florist but she couldn't for the life of her guess who would be sending her flowers. Unless, could it be Oz? Could he be ready to forgive and forget the Xander episode? A little thrill of excitement went through her. Taking the box into the living room Willow set it on the coffee table, plucking the card from beneath the ribbon. 

Buffy came bouncing in from the kitchen. "Who was at the door?" 

"Delivery guy," Willow said, tugging at the ribbon and opening the box. 

"Oh wow!" Buffy gazed hungrily at the roses arranged against a backdrop of black satin. "They're gorgeous, Wills. Who sent them, was it Oz?" 

Willow slid the card into the back pocket of her jeans, wanting to keep Oz’s note for herself. She shrugged. "I don't know. No card." 

"Oooh, a secret admirer." Buffy pointed at each of the single long stemmed roses. "Red is for love. Pink is for admiration. Orange is for passion and lavender is for love at first sight." 

Willow's eyebrows lifted a fraction. "Impressive, Buff." 

Buffy grinned and shrugged. "Once upon a time I wasn't the Slayer and this was the kind of important stuff I needed to know." She turned and headed back to the kitchen. "I'm going to get ice cream and then we're going to go through every person we've ever met to find out who sent these to you." 

Willow's heart went out to her best friend and she had to say something to ease her, even when she knew there was nothing she could say that would really help. "Just because he doesn’t send flowers doesn’t mean he doesn’t think about you," Willow said softly. “Angel I mean.” 

Buffy's eyes clouded. "Maybe." 

Willow said nothing more and Buffy disappeared into the kitchen. She waited until she heard Buffy rooting around in the freezer before pulling the card out of her back pocket.   
Black writing leapt out at her, standing stark and dark against the cream of the card. 

_For my little witch  
With Love_

She had never seen his writing, but he knew his voice, it haunted her dreams and whispered to her out of the shadows; angry, drunk, slurring and slightly provocative. Willow could hear Spike's voice as clearly as though he were stood at her shoulder right now. 

_“Mmm, that smell”_

_“I haven’t had a woman in weeks.”_

The cold clenching feeling in her gut told her it was not Oz who had sent these roses to her. Oz never called her “witch”. A shiver swept over her chased quickly by the all familiar sensation of impending doom.

A sudden knock at the door brought Willow out of her thoughts. She realised she was trembling and she peeked out of the window before going to answer the door, even with Buffy in the house and knowing Spike couldn’t get in without an invitation. 

Seeing the delivery man back on step gave her a small sense of hope. Perhaps he had it all wrong, maybe the flowers weren’t supposed to be delivered to her house after all. 

"Wills, do you want strawberry syrup or chocolate syrup or both?" Buffy called out. 

"Um, surprise me," Willow said as she opened the door. It was impossible not to notice the box the delivery guy was holding, slimmer than the previous box, but just as glossy and once again tied with a red silk ribbon. “You’re back,” she said, her heart dipping slightly as he thrust the clipboard at her. 

"You're popular. Sign here again." 

Willow signed her named and plucked the creamy envelope from beneath the red ribbon just as Buffy emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream in each hand.   
"Another one? Someone really likes you, Wills. Do we have a card this time?" 

"No. Still no card." 

"You know, it's so nice to have a romantic mystery instead of an evil mystery to solve." Buffy set the bowls down, almost bouncing on her toes. "Open it. Maybe there'll be a clue inside."

With a feeling of trepidation weighing her down, Willow opened the box staring down at the single long stemmed black rose. It somehow looked even darker when paired with the white satin background. 

"It's perfect," Buffy breathed, eyes wide. 

"What ... um, what does a black rose mean?" 

"Death," Buffy replied automatically. "Oh, but no. I mean, it's a black rose, it's all elusive and stuff because they aren't natural. It just means you know, that you're special, and maybe your admirer thinks you're unattainable. Like, I can't have you but I can't stop thinking about you. That kind of thing." Buffy smiled brightly. "I'm sure that's what it means. Obviously. I'll get a vase for you and then we're going to crack this case." 

Willow smiled tightly as Buffy left the room. She was going to have to tell Buffy about this. If Spike was back in town they needed to be on their guard. There was no telling what he’d do. There was no telling just why he was sending her the most beautiful roses in the world either. 

It was hard to explain how she knew Spike was behind the roses. Even though he hadn't signed his name Willow knew with a feeling of utter certainty it was Spike. Perhaps it was the same instinct Buffy had felt upon seeing the red roses on her door step on Valentine’s Day. Buffy had known in her heart they were from Angelus just as Willow knew these were from Spike.

She pulled the second card out of her pocket, a knot of fear tightening in her stomach. One tiny word had her life and her humanity hanging in the balance: 

_Soon._


End file.
